Tomorrowland is one of the many theme lands at the five Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions that depict views of the future. Disneyland Park (Paris) includes a similar area called Discoveryland, which shares some elements with other Tomorrowlands but emphasizes Jules Verne-inspired visions of the future.

Walt Disney was known for his futurist views and, through his television programs, showed the American public how the world was moving into the future. Tomorrowland was the realized culmination of his views. In his own words: "Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors of the Space Age to achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come. The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future."

It is this movement into the future that has, on occasion, left Tomorrowland mired in the past. Disneyland's Tomorrowland is now in its third generation, and the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland is in its second. The Walt Disney Company has mentioned that it wanted to keep Tomorrowland from becoming "Yesterdayland". As a self-referential joke along this line, the 2007 Disney animated filmMeet the Robinsons (which is set mainly in the year 2037) features an amusement park called Todayland, which has rides that look remarkably like Space Mountain and Disneyland's original Rocket Jets.

A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying Man's achievements... A step into the future, with predictions of constructed things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure and ideals. The Atomic Age, the challenge of Outer Space and the hope for a peaceful, unified world.

The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland on July 17, 1955, with only several of its planned attractions open, due to budget cuts. The construction of the park was rushed, so Tomorrowland was the last land to be finished. It became something of a corporate showcase, despite Walt Disney's reluctance. Monsanto Company, American Motors, Richfield Oil, and Dutch Boy Paint were some of the many companies to open showcases in Tomorrowland in the first few years.

Since the park was on a strict budget, one cost-cutting idea was to reuse the sets of the Nautilus from Disney's 1954 movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as a walkthrough attraction. This remained open until 1966. For the first four years, most of Tomorrowland was generally open space and considered to be very corporate-fueled. However, the area gained more attractions as time passed, many of which have since been removed.

When Disneyland opened, Tomorrowland represented the future in the year 1986.[2]

Tomorrowland's showpiece was the TWA Moonliner, derived from Disney's "Man In Space" television episodes developed in the 1950s. The Moonliner was the tallest structure in the park at the time, even taller than the park icon Sleeping Beauty Castle. The Moonliner hosted Rocket To The Moon which was a ride to the moon. The entrance showpiece was the clock of the world showing the time anywhere on earth. The north show building hosted Circarama U.S.A. which showed movies on nine screens, and space station X-1 which showed a satellite view of America. The south show building showed the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry, which was a walk-through tour about chemistry. Autopia, an opening-day attraction, gave visitors a view of the National Interstate System that was to be built in the future. The attraction still remains open today, though it has been modified and rebuilt several times. This is the only attraction in Tomorrowland that has been open since opening day.

Several new attractions opened in 1955. Among them were Tomorrowland Boats, The World Beneath Us, which showed the Earth's geology, and the Aluminum Hall of Fame, sponsored by Kaiser Aluminum. The final Tomorrowland attraction to open in 1955 was The Flight Circle which demonstrated gasoline powered vehicles.

In 1956, Tomorrowland Boats were renamed Phantom Boats, and were closed later in the year. Dutch Boy Color Gallery opened in 1956, and sponsored Dutch Boy Paint. Two major attractions opened in 1956: the Astro Jets, where guests were able to fly their own rockets, and Skyway to Fantasyland, where guests rode "Buckets" over to Fantasyland.

In 1957, the Monsanto House of the Future, a plastic house with four wings cantilevered from a central plinth, was built. This was similar to precursors at previous World's Fairs, though those were simply homes furnished with modern conveniences and aimed at housewives. Disneyland's attraction displayed conveniences such as picture phones and television remote controls, and it introduced many people to their first microwave oven. The Viewliner also opened where guests could ride in "the fastest miniature train in the world." It closed the next year making it the shortest lived Disney attraction ever.

The Disney crew was tired of Tomorrowland. Most of its attractions were only there to sponsor companies such as Monsanto, and not even the 1959 expansion helped very much. Instead of having another expansion, the crew decided to start from scratch, and made a new Tomorrowland. Walt Disney died in December 1966, almost seven months before the new Tomorrowland would open. In 1967, the area was completely rebuilt with new attractions and scenery. The original layout was demolished, and a new set of buildings were erected. The addition of the Carousel of Progress, Adventure Thru Inner Space, an improved and larger Circle-Vision auditorium, Flight to the Moon, and the PeopleMover helped give Tomorrowland its "World on the Move" theme.[citation needed]

In 1973, "The World On The Move" began to change. General Electric decided to close Carousel of Progress, which would later reopen at a new home in Walt Disney World in 1975 as part of its expansion. In 1974, with the American Bicentennial approaching, Disney designers seized the opportunity of the vacant carousel theater to present a large musical extravaganza called America Sings, which featured 114 Audio Animatronics. The following year, Flight to the Moon was updated into Mission to Mars, as actual flights to the moon had become a reality since the former's construction.[citation needed]

In 1975, construction began on Walt Disney's proposed 1965 "Space Port". In May 1977, this project opened to the public as Space Mountain. The same year, the Super Speed Tunnel was added as part of the Peoplemover experience, as the Epcot model that was formerly in the building moved to Florida.[citation needed]

In 1984, Circle-Vision 360 received a brand new travelogue of the United States, to replace the aging "America The Beautiful" film – American Journeys.[citation needed]

In 1986, two new attractions found homes in Tomorrowland: Star Tours; and Captain EO. Captain EO replaced the Space Stage in September 1986, and Star Tours replaced Adventure Thru Inner Space in January 1987. Aside from the Skyway closing in 1994,[3] Tomorrowland remained largely unchanged for much of the following decade until it was again redesigned in 1998.[citation needed]

During the mid-to-late 1990s, Tomorrowland Terrace (TLT), said to be Tomorrowland's most popular outdoor restaurant,[citation needed] became a fashionable spot for many local Southern California teenagers. Discounted annual passports for Southern California residents, and the remarkable success of No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" album which made several references to the Disneyland Park as a whole, caused Orange County locals to pour into Tomorrowland every Friday and Saturday night. Unfortunately for Disneyland, this caused an increase in harassment of tourists and petty crimes which forced them to increase security, culminating in 1996 with several separate gangs of Disneyland locals, led by a “goth” style gang known as the “Disneyland Arcane Crew (D.A.C.)”, and locals numbers in excess of several hundred packed into Tomorrowland's space. This trend, however, died out around 1998 when Tomorrowland was closed for a major renovation.[citation needed]

Tomorrowland reopened in 1998, loosely based on the retro-futurist concepts that Disneyland Paris's Discoveryland featured. The entire land was painted in bronzes, golds, and dark browns, with occasional green highlights. New landscaping featured apparent vegetable plots and made reference to "neo-agrarian" concepts. The flagship attraction of the makeover was the Rocket Rods, which attempted to run a fast-paced ride on the former slow-paced PeopleMover track; the ride would close three years later due to intractable mechanical problems.

Many of the attractions remained fundamentally the same, but Circle-Vision, Captain EO, and Mission to Mars were all removed. The space formerly occupied by Circle-Vision was partly used for the queue of the Rocket Rods, while Captain EO was replaced by Honey, I Shrunk the Audience and Mission To Mars was replaced by a restaurant called Red Rockett's Pizza Port. The Rocket Jets attraction was redressed as a moving sculpture called the Observatron, while a similar attraction called the Astro Orbitor was placed at ground level in the entrance of Tomorrowland where the World Clock once stood. The former America Sings theater became Innoventions, a technology showcase based on the Walt Disney World: EPCOT original.

Following the opening of the New Tomorrowland for the summer of 1998, the Submarine Voyage was closed in September.

The Submarine Lagoon at Tomorrowland. Monorail Orange is passing over a submarine.

In late 2003, Matt Ouimet became president of the Disneyland Resort and sought to change some of the cost-cutting trends that had become the status quo there. Space Mountain was closed for two full years while the ride was refurbished, and the track was completely replaced by a new track with the same track plan. The former Rocket Rods queue building was converted into Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters for a 2005 opening.[citation needed]

In February 2005, Walt Disney Imagineering approved a repaint of Tomorrowland for the "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" 50th anniversary celebration. This new paint scheme resembled the 1967 Tomorrowland with predominantly white, blue, and silver, although some of the former gold and bronze colors were kept. The largest remainder from the 1998 color scheme was the Astro Orbitor until mid-2009, when it was repainted to match the rest of the land, and mechanisms that once caused its top to rotate properly were repaired.[citation needed]

In 2007, as part of the Year of a Million Dreams, the Submarine Voyage reopened as Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, with the submarines fully refurbished and repowered with batteries rather than diesel engines with Nemo and friends in a new adventure.[citation needed]

In 2007, the Disneyland Monorail began phasing out its Mark V fleet of monorails in order to reverse engineer[clarification needed] and upgrade the Mark V's to the new Mark VII models. The new Mark VII's were phased in one at a time, beginning with Red and Blue in 2008 and Orange in 2009; Purple was confirmed not to undergo an upgrade and was scrapped. These new monorails were to pay homage to the original Mark I, II, and III monorails while retaining a modern, futuristic look. The previous Mark V monorail class of trains bore more of a resemblance to the Mark IV and Mark VI monorail classes of trains used on the Walt Disney World Monorail System.[citation needed]

The second Tomorrowland opened on October 1, 1971 at the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort, Florida, and, like at Disneyland, was opened unfinished. On opening day, only two attractions opened: the Grand Prix Raceway, and the Skyway to Fantasyland. Tomorrowland was noted for being very barren and sterile at this time, due to the land being very flat and undetailed. A large wall was located past the two large show buildings, and stretched all the way to where the Carousel of Progress is now, which used to be a large food court. It was outside and was removed within two years. Tomorrowland Terrace was, and is the largest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom despite the name change in 1994. America the Beautiful opened in November, and Flight to the Moon opened late on Christmas Eve, 1971, due to technical problems. The south show building received an expansion in 1972, which would house If You Had Wings. The south building would be further expanded in 1973, opening the Plaza Pavilion (now called Tomorrowland Terrace). In 1973, the plans for Tomorrowland were finalized; and for about two years, construction was a common sight. Star Jets, and the Space Bar opened in 1974. The next year, Space Mountain and The Carousel of Progress opened on January 15. A railroad station was planned to open, next to Space Mountain, but the concept never came to be due to a congestion of people exiting Space Mountain. In June, the second version of the WEDWay Peoplemover would open. This Peoplemover bore resemblance to Disneyland's, but was different, in that it used linear induction motors. This Tomorrowland somewhat resembled Disneyland's Tomorrowland at the time, with large white clean buildings. Large waterfalls and monoliths greeted the guests as they entered this land. In 1983, the waterfalls were decommissioned due to the slightest winds sending water everywhere, and a mural was placed on the monoliths. In the early 90s, the colors on the outside were changed from soft pastel colors to bright reds, yellows and blues. In 1989, If You Had Wings was closed due to Eastern Airlines going out of business, and Delta Dreamflight opened.

For most of its history, Tomorrowland's color scheme was predominantly white with soft blues, creating a retro-modernist landscape. Huge monolithic towers, spires, and clean lines completed the futuristic look. In 1994, using inspiration from Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris, Tomorrowland was completely re-built and altered to resemble a galactic spaceport as it would have been envisioned by the science-fiction comic strips of the early 20th century, like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Tomorrowland has since been given a much more metallic look, along with new darker blues and purples, especially along its main concourse leading from the central hub.

Tokyo Disneyland's Tomorrowland was designed as a loose copy of Disney World's original Tomorrowland, particularly the main entryway which features nearly identical waterfalls and blue spires flanking the walkway. As is the case with other areas of Tokyo Disneyland, Tomorrowland has fewer attractions and more open spaces than its American counterparts, a move designed to facilitate a larger number of park guests. Notably missing is a PeopleMover-type attraction, whose tracks and ride vehicles have been conspicuous features of other Tomorrowland landscapes.

Although Walt Disney intended the original Tomorrowland in California to be a "living blueprint" of the future, Tokyo Disneyland's Tomorrowland never directly showcased future technology, instead opting for more of a science fiction theme. Prominent attractions supporting this theme include Space Mountain and Star Jets, as well as the Pan Galactic Pizza Port, a restaurant that features a large audio-animatronic pizza-making machine operated by a whimsical alien creature named Tony Solaroni. In recent years, older attractions have been replaced with newer ones that feature movie tie-ins: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek are two examples.

Disneyland Park in Paris has a Tomorrowland with an entirely new concept, Discoveryland. European culture was used distinctively in the park and Discoveryland uses the ideas of famed European thinkers and explorers such as Leonardo da Vinci or H. G. Wells, with Jules Verne featured most prominently. This land was heavily inspired by the abandoned Disneyland concept Discovery Bay, which would have sat at the north end of the park's Rivers of America.

Architecturally designed using Jules Verne's vision of the future as inspiration, the land is laid out very differently from its predecessors. Many Tomorrowland classics exist here, such as Autopia and Orbitron, some in an altered way, but Space Mountain is significantly changed. Its theme is Steampunk/Clockpunk

Originally conceived as Discovery Mountain, it was originally proposed to hold more than one attraction, including an improved version of Horizons from Epcot, a larger Nautilus walk-through complete with a restaurant and a free-fall ride based on Journey to the Center of the Earth. But due to budget cuts, it opened in 1995 as Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon). Beside the Space Mountain show building is the Nautilus Lagoon, with a walk-through recreation of the Nautilus submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The showcase attraction on opening day was a Circle-Vision 360 film, titled Le Visionarium. The attraction featured an eccentric time-traveling robot and his robotic assistant, who take Jules Verne into the world of today, which is pictured as the future he dreamed of. The attraction would later be exported to both the Magic Kingdom and to Tokyo Disneyland.

Space Mountain was completely refurbished in 2005 for the Happiest Celebration on Earth, with a new soundtrack and special effects. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast opened April 8, 2006, in the former building of Le Visionarium, which closed in September 2004.

The newest Tomorrowland opened on September 12, 2005, at Hong Kong Disneyland. Like the newer generations of the American Tomorrowlands, Hong Kong's version features an emphasis on metallic trim, with lots of blue and purple hues.

In Summer 2006, three new attractions Autopia, UFO Zone, and Stitch Encounter opened.

The outer edge of The land will under construction, adjacent to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. A structure for Iron Man Experience, the first Disney attraction to be based on a Marvel property, featuring Tony Stark recruiting guests to fend off extraterrestrial beings from attacking Hong Kong.[4]

Opening in 2015, Shanghai Disneyland Park will also feature a version of Tomorrowland, with new variations of traditional Tomorrowland attractions. Instead of a traditional Space Mountain, a new indoor rollercoaster themed to the film TRON will be featured called Tron Lightcycles Power Run. Instead of a classic spinning rockets attraction, Shanghai's park will include a spinning Jet Packs ride. A new version of Disney's popular Buzz Lightyear dark ride will also be included called Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue utilizing new technology different from that of the currently existing versions of the ride located at other Disney parks.

In 2013, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a secret project (originally titled as 1952) led by director Brad Bird and screenwriter Damon Lindelof was re-titled Tomorrowland. It is unknown if Bird and Lindelof are working off of Lucas and Moore's previous drafts or if it is an original idea based on the Tomorrowland attractions.[6] The film is scheduled for release on May 22, 2015.[7][8]George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, and Britt Robertson will star in this film.